Generally, a refrigerator, an appliance for storing food at a low temperature, stores foods in a freezing manner or a cooling manner depending upon states of foods to be stored.
Currently, the refrigerators have been large and multifunctional according to various demands of users and changes of dietary life thereof. Such refrigerator generally has a dispenser for discharging out purified water or ice cubes without opening a door thereof.
The dispenser is generally formed at the door of the refrigerator and is manipulatable in various manners. An exemplary dispenser in the related art is shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 is a side section view schematically showing a dispenser for refrigerator in the related art.
Referring to FIG. 1, the dispenser for refrigerator 10 includes a dispenser housing 11 and a deco cover 12.
The dispenser housing 11 forms a shape of an inner side of the dispenser 10. The dispenser housing 11 is concaved toward the inside of the refrigerator door by a specific depth so that a space for receiving a cup (C) or a container similar to the cup for receiving water or ice cubes therein may be formed.
The deco cover 12 is disposed at a front side of the dispenser housing 11 so as to form an external appearance of the dispenser 10 by partially shielding a front surface of the dispenser housing 11.
The deco cover 12 is provided with an opening corresponding to the space of the dispenser housing 11. Through the opening, the cup (C) for discharging out water and ice cubes is taken in and out.
The dispenser housing 11 has an upper middle portion provided with a discharge outlet 13 for downwardly supplying water or ice cubes.
And, a manipulation lever 14 is formed at a middle portion of an inner side surface of the dispenser housing 11.
The manipulation lever 14 has an upper end coupled to one side of the dispenser housing 11 or the dispenser 10 by a hinge. A switch 16 for determining an operation of the dispenser 10 is provided at one side of a rear surface of the dispenser housing 11. And, a transfer mechanism 15 is provided at the rear surface of the dispenser housing 11.
The transfer mechanism 15 is rotatably mounted at the rear surface of the dispenser housing 11. When one end portion 15a of the transfer mechanism 15 coming in contact with the manipulation lever 14 is pushed, the other portion 15b of the transfer mechanism 15 pushes the switch 16 by the rotation of the transfer mechanism 15.
However, in the aforementioned dispenser of the refrigerator in the related art, since the transfer mechanism is rotated with respect to the rear surface of the dispenser housing, a spare space for rotation of the transfer mechanism is required to be formed at the rear surface of the dispenser housing, thereby enlarging an installation space for the dispenser for refrigerator and decreasing a storage space of the refrigerator.